1 . Marilu Arce loves her job, but for a time she considered leaving. The traffic-plagued commute from her home to her office, nearly two hours each way, meant her daughters couldn’t enroll in after school activities because she couldn’t get home in time to take them.
Then her employer adopted a policy permitting her to work from home two days a week, and “I feel like it changed my life,” she said. Her stress level has dropped. Her daughters are thrilled. She likes her job more. That’s the type of reaction Arce’s boss likes to hear as the company measures the success of the work-from-home policy which was instituted three years ago in hopes of improving employee retention. So far, it seems to be working: turnover was less than five percent last year—its lowest ever.
Flexible work policies top employee wish lists when they look for a job, and employers increasingly have been offering them. Studies have shown working remotely increases employee engagement, but in moderation because there is still value in the relationships nurtured when colleagues are face to face. The key, advocates of flexible work policies say, is to match the environment with the type of work that needs to be done.
The flexibility hasn’t hurt productivity, which is up 50 percent. There is “something lost” when colleagues don’t gather at the water cooler, but it’s outweighed by the retention and happiness gains, he said. As jobs that require physical work decline, thanks to technological advances, life superficially appears to get better. Consumers benefit in the form of cheaper prices. Labor-saving appliances all make things easier and suggest that even more and better benefits are on the horizon. But is something lost?
Talk long enough to the most accomplished academics, they will brag about a long-ago college summer job waiting tables or repairing hiking trails. They might praise the installer who redid their kitchen. There seems to be a human instinct to want to do physical work. The proliferation of hard-work reality-television programming reflects this apparent need. Indeed, the more we have become immobile and urbanized, the more we tune in to watch reality television’s truckers, loggers, farmers, drillers and rail engineers. In a society that supposedly despises menial jobs, the television ratings for such programmes suggest that lots of Americans enjoy watching people of action, who work with their hands.
Physical work, in its eleventh hour within a rapidly changing Western culture, still intrigues us in part because it remains the foundation for 21st century complexity. Before any of us can teach, write or speculate, we must first have food, shelter and safety. And for a bit longer, that will require some people to cut grapes and nail two-by-sixes. No apps or 3D printers exist to produce brown rice. Physical labour also promotes human versatility: Those who do not do it, or who do not know how to do it, become divorced from—and, at the same time, dependent on—labourers. Lawyers, accountants and journalists living in houses with yards and driving cars to work thus count on a supporting infrastructure of electricians, landscapers and mechanics. In that context, physical labour can provide independence, at least in a limited sense of not being entirely reliant on a host of hired workers.
1. The author mentions the example of Arce to show that________.| A．she dislikes the present job for the long commuting time |
| B．she is having trouble balancing work and school life |
| C．people usually don’t work hard outside office |
| D．employers are facing the problem of staff drain |
| A．it helps to increase job satisfaction for the employees |
| B．it improves harmonious relationship among colleagues |
| C．the decline in physical work gives employees more mobility |
| D．employees are entitled to request it according to their work |
| A．They entertain those employees burned out with overwork. |
| B．People can learn some basic labour skills from these programmes. |
| C．There’s an ongoing need for physical labour skills that technology doesn’t possess. |
| D．They offer instructive information for both employers and employees. |
| A．The Emergence of Alternative Work Arrangements |
| B．The Rise of Automation, the Decline in Need for Labour |
| C．Time to Rethink in the Face of the Evolution of Work |
| D．New Challenges for Today’s Employers and Academics |
1. 日常生活中的友善行为；
2. 友善行为的意义或价值；
3. 提出倡议。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：传统美德traditional virtues
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1. How does Kirsty go to the sports village every morning?
| A．By car. | B．By bike. | C．On foot. |
| A．She practices shooting. | B．She meets her coaches. | C．She takes a walk. |
| A．She goes running. | B．She goes swimming. | C．She plays football. |
| A．At 6:30. | B．At 7:30. | C．At 9:00. |
4 . I was recently in a business meeting, where two managers faced off with their wildly different opinions. But to our surprise, the meeting went remarkably well — and all because one of them simply showed a calm maturity (成熟). He kept saying things like, “I absolutely see your point, Jeff,” and “You’re right about that. Could we consider…?”
♦Focus on your own stuff.
It can be so easy to compare ourselves to other people over our paychecks, the contents of our closets, relationship statuses etc. But when you realize that all that matters is you, you can’t help but just do you.
♦Know how to laugh at yourself.
Joan Rivers said, “Life goes by fast. Enjoy it. Calm down. It’s all funny.”
♦
I don’t think there is anything more grown-up than taking 100 percent responsibility for your life. No excuses or exceptions — parental, governmental or otherwise. When you own your circumstances and your “stuff” you’re empowered.
| A．Never react. |
| B．Don’t blame others. |
| C．Life doesn’t have to be so serious, does it? |
| D．And when that happens, life gets awesome. |
| E．Will guilt and regret have you living in the past? |
| F．He met his colleague’s argument with absolute calm. |
| G．Maturity begins when drama and dissatisfaction end. |
Before becoming a web novel writer in 2018 Disha Florence from Dhaka, Bangladesh, now 25, was trying to find a way to free
It was then that she observed that being a girl meant she could not go to play in the park like boys. She needed to learn household chores but boys could play all day. “I lost many
At 22, she
6 . An 85-year-old primary school constructed in 1935 in Shanghai has been lifted off the ground in its entirety and relocated using new technology called the “walking machine.” The project marks the first time this “walking machine” method has been used in Shanghai to relocate a historical building.
Urbanization（都市化）has continued to significantly threaten architectural heritage. In the capital Beijing, for instance, more than 1,000 acres of its historic hutongs and traditional courtyard homes were destroyed between 1990 and 2010.
In the early 2000s, cities including Nanjing and Bejjing-due to the critics’ protest about the loss of old neighborhoods-drew up long-term plans to preserve what was left of their historic sites, with protections introduced to safeguard buildings and restrict developers.
These conservation efforts have taken different forms. In Beijing, a near-ruined temple was transformed into a restaurant and gallery, while in Nanjing, a cinema from the 1930s was restored to its original form, with some additions providing it for modern use. In 2019, Shanghai welcomed Tank Shanghai, an arts center built in renovated（重修的）oil tanks.
“Relocation is not the first choice, but better than destroying,” said Lan, the Shanghai primary school’s project supervisor. “I’d rather not touch the historical buildings at all.” Building relocations he said however, are “a workable option.” “The central government is putting more emphasis on the protection of historical buildings. I’m happy to see that progress in recent years.”
Shanghai has arguably been China’s most progressive city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings and 19th-century “shikumen” （or “stone gate”） house have offered examples of how to give old buildings new life.
“We have to preserve the historical building no matter what, ” Lan said. “The relocation has challenges, but in general, it is cheaper than destroying and then rebuilding something in a new location.”
1. How did cities respond to the loss of historical sites?| A．They criticized the developers. | B．They rebuilt the historic hutongs. |
| C．They ended the significant threat. | D．They proposed the protection project. |
| A．All original form. | B．A new addition. | C．A cinema. | D．A temple. |
| A．Provide strong evidence. | B．Introduce different opinions. |
| C．Summarize previous paragraphs. | D．Add some background information. |
| A．Walking Machine: a New Technology | B．Rebuilding: a New Option for Relics |
| C．Old Building Torn down for Modern Use | D．Historical Site “Walks” to New Life |
The young woman sat crying at one of the back tables of a small restaurant at a fuel service station, on a highway where truck drivers and traveller stopped. Two girls, perhaps four and five years old, watched their mother tensely.
I am a patrolman, which is a policeman who is assigned to patrol a specific route. I am with the Knox County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Department, and was sent to check on the family after someone telephoned, concerned about the woman’s weeping. A flash of fear crossed the older child’s eyes as I approached her. “Daddy left us,” she said. “He just put our stuff out of the car while we were in the bathroom.”
“Is that so, little lady?” I said. “I want you two to climb on those stools over there and order something to eat.”
Reluctantly they crossed to the stools. I called the waitress to take their order.
“Now, what’s the problem?” I asked the woman.
“Just what my girl said,” she replied, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “ My husband is not cruel — just at the end of his rope. We have no money; we’re flat broke. He thought that we’d get more help alone than if he stayed.”
“Do you have family?”
“The nearest is in Chicago.”
We sat there discussing organisations and government agencies that could help her. When the waitress brought hot dogs and French fries to the little girls, I went to the counter and took out my wallet to pay.
“The owner says no charge,” the waitress said. “We know what’s going on.”
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
“Officer, excuse me,” a man said to me.
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There was enough to buy bus tickets to Chicago and food along the way.
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Dunhuang Caves, which are
The good news for art lovers who cannot travel, and for the caves
Digitising ancient art allows us to explore the practices of long ago. It also makes the art
9 . Fear of public speaking is one of the most commonly-held fears, and when the speaking event takes the form of a debate it adds a “winner and a “loser" to the discourse.
Know the rules.
You should not only have a well-reasoned argument ready for your debate, but you should know the format the debate will take. If it's a business meeting，will you be speaking in front of the whole company or just your office?
You know the point you want to make. Don't be off the point. Have a clear agenda in mind going into your debate, and stick to it. If you stray too far from your original point, you will weaken your argument.
Keep within time limits.
Some debates are more rigidly structured than others. Even if you're not participating in a formal debating event that requires you to stay within a set time limit, don't talk aimlessly.
Respect your opponent.
Even in an informal conversation it's important to let your “adversary(对手)” have his say, and let him know he's been heard “Focus on debating content, not character”.
| A．Stick to the topic. |
| B．What are the time limits? |
| C．Be concise and avoid too much repetition. |
| D．You are free to express yourself in the debate. |
| E．A debate is a contest, or, perhaps, like a game, where speakers present their arguments. |
| F．There are some applicable tips that can make the debate more productive than painful. |
| G．You may be challenging a person's point of view, but you're not challenging the individual. |
